Own Up What Mistakes Did You Make?

[Ian Anderson]

I was reading another forum (sacrelidge I know) and someone posted saying what to remember

He had just replaced his sump gasket, and filled it with 5 litres of oil without the sump plug in - was then battling to explain to his wife why they needed an oil slick down the driveway.

I forgot to empty the tank on my Formula V of fuel before removing the fuel filter. - had to cut the rubber pipe off. I then sat for about half an hour with my thumb over the pipe end before my brother appeared and got me a fuel can to drain it down!

So I can laugh at my stupidity now and will let others laugh too

So what's your story?

Ian

 

[Chris P.]

Old shocks just as good as the new ones.

OK, OK, OK....

My wife, back before we were married, had a BroncoII. I never worked on anything but my BMW 2002, so it seemed she needed new shocks. I removed one, and YUP! They had gobs of bump damping, but pretty much no rebound. She mentioned to her father that I said she needed new shocks and before I had a chance to buy new ones, he did. Went to put the new ones on, and god - damn! Gobs of bump damping and no rebound damping on the new ones! Apparently that's the way the stupid things are made for that type of vehicle. Grrrrrrrrrrr.

 

[David Morton]

This wasn't me but a friend who managed to rebuild a gearbox for a competiton car and got the wrong can when he put the 'oil' in. It was a
workshop size can of heremetite. Didn't notice the mistake until the next day when somebody asked for the hermetite.

 

[Frank Catt]

Racing in the "good" old days of stock car racing at Wimbledon stadium, we were delighted to at last qualify for the Grand Final, but we only had a few minutes to turn the car round and get on the grid. We always went with two jerry cans, one painted green for fuel and one painted blue for water, in artificial light ( saturday night racing ! ) I of course dumped them the wrong way round - missed the final and never made it again! Frank

 

[Tim Kay]

bought a GT40 replicalol

 

I had just finished rebuilding the engine in my Citroen Big 15 (many years ago) and turned it over eagerly anticipating a smooth start up. She kicked in and after a couple of turns and, shazam! A zillion revs straight off. I had inadvertently connected the throttle pull the wrong way round - thus full noise rather than gentle idle. Turned it off in a flash and fortunatley no harm done, but a valuable lesson learned - check and check again.

 

[JohnC]

I was troubleshooting a cantankerous relay circuit just last year, and spent 3-4 days chasing this problem that would come & go mysteriously (as they do). I had the circuit "rigged" temporarily with jumpers, but did it ever occur to me that my trusty 35 year old jumpers could be at fault? Nooooooo, silly me.

What's worse, I'm a EE and am constantly preaching to others about faulty connections being 90% of the problem when there's an electrical gremlin doing mischief.

John

 

[Chris P.]

Someone else's goof...

I guy I know prepped his own Sports 2000 Lola back in the 80's or early 90's. After a gearchange, he found out he put the gearstack in backwards so his shift pattern was completely reversed (the forward gears in the H-pattern). He didn't have time to change it back so he raced with it that way... Funny thing is, the reason why he stopped racing was a big accident he had. I never thought to ask if it had anything to do with that gearchange episode.

 

[Jac Mac]

This one goes back 38yrs when I was an apprentice. The BOSS, W/shop Foreman and I were removing the trans from a Series 2 Landrover. I had the "plum" job underneath disconnecting d/shafts,mounts, trans bolts , and all the crap that covered them,along with draining the oil. As this was being done over a pit I had sat the container on a stool to position it closer to the trans. The other two had the job of removing floor panels etc. To lift the trans out a moveable floor crane was pushed in thru the drivers door. At the crucial moment the chain slipped and the trans got hung up on the chassis. As it was more than I could manage to hold it the boss jumped into the pit to rush in and help me. There were no lights in the pit and he did not see the container with about 3 gallons of waste oil on the stool, but he became very aware of it in the following 5 seconds along with telling me that my parents had never married!!!!!!!! News to them as well as me.
Jac Mac.

 

[Ken Mason]

Clutch Nightmare

Changing the clutch on my Escort Mexico in the early seventies. 3am - tiny garage - not much light. Got the gearbox back in and was doing up the propshaft at the rear axle. Got three of the four bolts done up but could barely reach the fourth under the floorpan. Took about an hour to get it nice and tight...
In the cold light of morning I realised if I had jacked a rear wheel up and turned it that bolt would have come to the bottom... DOH!

 

[Howard Jones]

Broken windshield

When I first brought home my new GTD kit in all the boxes with the chassis and fiberglass on a trailer I decided to store the windshield in the safest place I could think of. Under the bed in our master bedroom. After all what could happen to it there? Three years later I pulled it out so that I could finally install it and...... Broken!!!!!

Wonder how THAT happened?

 

[Rick Muck- Mark IV]

Howard:
Re your avitar, what do Smurfs do all day? They Smuck!

Rick

 

[Paul Thompson 'Hooligan']

Don't use Petrol to clean live wires!!

Some time ago (about 25yrs) - I was helping a friend rebuild his rear engined Skoda - yeah nice!!

Anyway, whilst I sat on the floor (straight legged) cleaning the removed engine that sat between my legs with a jam-jar of petrol and a paint brush, my friend busied himself by cleaning the rest of the engine bay with a very large rag, again soaked in petrol.

Being rear engined, the battery was I belive, under the rear seat and had NOT been disconnected. Not a problem until he inadvertantly touched the wire that had been disconnected from the alternator, to earth!!

All I heard was 'Bzzzzzzt - Whoooomf!!

Yep, the resulting spark of the lead ignited the rag my friend was using which then becam a rather large fireball! - naturally not wanting to hang on to it, he got rid of it by throwing it over his shoulder away from him.

The blazing rag however, promptly opened in flight, and came to rest, still blazing, neatly spread out across MY BACK!!

I then turned my head, having heard the initial whooomf, only to be confronted with what appeared to be a WALL OF FLAME. -eeeK!

Anyway, a neighbour, two doors away, also heard the initial ignition and shot round with an extinguisher, with which he doused ALL the flames, both on me and the rear of the car... (thanks Alan!) He (Alan) did add however that he was amazed at my gymnastic prowess, as I seemed to "leap into the air" from being sat flat bottomed on the ground like a startled Gazelle - he was'nt wrong there!!

Anyway, these days I no longer use Petrol to clean and ALWAYS disconnect batteries when working on cars! - A lucky escape me thinks..

(A final note - that car he had was so 'classy' - he re-painted it with Dulux Gloss White paint!!)

 

[Pat Buckley]

That was funny!

Thanks.

 

[Jac Mac]

Here is another for you that scared the @#$$%% out of me. Had a fuel starvation problem with a 302 Boss Mk2 cortina I used to race. Removed Fuel tank, drained, refilled with water, drained , drove 5 miles to W/Shop with tank on back of ute, applied steam cleaner for 20 minutes. Drilled two holes for new fuel pickups, sat tank on a couple of trestles and lit torch in prep to easiflo in new fitting's. Something suggested that I should wave torch over fuel neck before sitting down next to tank to do job. In the next couple of seconds the tank went from the trestle's to the roof of the W/Shop (25 ft up) back down spun round a couple of times, then shot out the W/Shop door all this time trailing a cone of flame about 8/10 ft long. We walked outside to find it relatively intact, proceeded to finish the job tested for leak's ( none ) reinstalled in car with some difficulty ( brkt's wouldnt line up ?) . It now held another gallon of Fuel.
I had used this procedure for years without incident but obviously had to find a safer method. Have done so & it requires a lot less effort.
Drain Fuel Tank, Flush with water, Fit hose from tailpipe of wifes car to fuel filler of Tank to be repaired, Run wifes car for approx 15/20 minutes at fast idle. That's It. I Dont know why/ how it work's but it does. I would still recommend a check with the torch for safety sake before getting up close and personal with the job.

Jac Mac.

 

[JohnC]

......Fit hose from tailpipe of wifes car to fuel filler of Tank to be repaired, Run wifes car for approx 15/20 minutes at fast idle. That's It. I Dont know why/ how it work's but it does. I would still recommend a check with the torch for safety sake before getting up close and personal with the job.

Jac Mac.

Jac Mac, you effectively inerted the vessel with the tailpipe gas.

It's usually done with nitrogen to purge a vessel that contained hydrocarbons before any welding is done. It ensures the atmosphere inside can't support combustion.

John

 

[Russ Noble]

I've used this method too, for years, the hot exhaust gases flowing through the tank also evaporate any last remnants of fuel trapped in seams etc. I don't usually bother prewashing the tank, I just drain it and give it the exhaust treatment until the tank is quite hot to the touch.

I had an interesting experience years ago welding up a split sump in place on a rally car. There was no time to attempt to purge it and it probably wouldn't have made much difference anyway so we removed the valve rocker cover and left the sump bung out in the hope that when it went woosh it wouldn't blow all the seals out of the motor. It worked but unfortunately when it went up my wrist was in line with the sump bung hole. No alternative the job had to be done. Quite a spectacular flame thrower of burning vapours and oil, not good for the human body though!! It's amazing how drivers and service crew risk everything in the name of 'sport'. I think it's because if you get second you are the first loser!! Treasure that thought Jac Mac!! ;-)

Regards

 

[Paul Thompson 'Hooligan']

Wristwatch burns - take them off!

Another one for the record, not me this time but I was helping the same person I mentioned in the previous posting about cleaning with Petrol...

The person in question had a wristwatch which had an all metal strap and never took it off to work on his car and I always moaned at him saying oneday he would have an accident and regret taking it off. Anyway, the day came, he was trying to remove a bolt that meant he was working with his arm 'stretching' into a tight confine, near the starter motor. Basically he momentarily bridged his watchstrap between a live 12v terminal on the starter solenoid to chassis earth. It was only for an instant and he immediately managed to pull his arm out.

Luckily he was able to remove the still hot watch which had got so hot that it had burnt several layers of skin off his wrist, but not before it left a scar about a third of the way round his wrist and about an inch wide (the width of the strap). A lesson learnt I hope!

The reason I kept telling him is my father had told me of the same thing happening to someone he knew, only his strap fused solid, burnt deep! had to be cut off and left him with a less than functional hand..... ouch!

 

[Doug S.]

Me, Too!

My left wrist bears a 1" X 1 1/2" scar from an almost identical scenario. I was working near the battery, with the ground cable still connected, of course, and completed a circuit between the positive cable clamp and the inner fender panel with my Seiko. It burned the Seiko's metal band in two and my wrist took 6 weeks to heal. Every time I prepare to work on a car now I am reminded to disconnect the ground cable by the scar I have.

It was surprising that the battery powered Seiko still worked after the incident.

Live and learn!